astronomy

Lester Frank Ward

Lester Frank Ward is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lester Frank Ward rather than just read about it. In short: Lester Frank Ward (June 18, 1841 – April 18, 1913) was an American botanist, paleontologist, and sociologist. The first president of the American Sociological Association, James Q.

Key takeaways

Lester Frank Ward belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lester Frank Ward to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lester Frank Ward from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lester Frank Ward (June 18, 1841 – April 18, 1913) was an American botanist, paleontologist, and sociologist. The first president of the American Sociological Association, James Q. Dealey characterized Ward as a "great pioneer" in the development of American sociology, with contemporaries referring to him as "the Nestor of American sociologists," His 1883 work Dynamic Sociology was influential in establishing sociology as a distinct field in the United States. Despite its initial impact his work was sidelined during the later institutionalization and development of American sociology.

Biography

Childhood: 1841–1858 Most, if not all of what is known about Ward's early life comes from the biography, Lester F. Ward: A Personal Sketch, written by Emily Palmer Cape in 1922. Lester Frank Ward was born in Joliet, Illinois. He was the youngest of 10 children born to Justus Ward and his wife Silence Rolph Ward. Justus Ward (d. 1858) was of New England colonial descent and worked on farms in addition to being an itinerant mechanic. Silence Ward was the daughter of a clergyman; she was educated and fond of literature. The family lived in poverty during Ward's early years. When Ward was one year old, the family moved closer to Chicago, to Cass, now known as Downers Grove, Illinois about twenty-three miles from Lake Michigan. The family then moved to a homestead in nearby St. Charles, Illinois where Ward's father built a saw mill business making railroad ties. As a child, Ward had to worked in farms, mills, and factories to supplement his family income, giving him little time for his education. Ward first attended a formal school at St. Charles, Kane County, Illinois, in 1850 when he was nine years old. He was known as Frank Ward to his classmates and friends and showed a great enthusiasm for books and learning, liberally supplementing his education with outside reading. Four years after Ward started attending school, his parents, along with Lester and an older brother, Erastus, traveled to Iowa in a covered wagon for a new life on the frontier.

Starting college: 1858–1862 In 1858, Justus Ward unexpectedly died, and the boys returned the family to the old homestead they still owned in St. Charles. Ward's estranged mother, who lived two miles away with Ward's sister, disapproved of the move, and wanted the boys to stay in Iowa to continue their father's work. The two brothers lived together for a short time in the old family homestead, which they dubbed "Bachelor's Hall;" did farm work to earn a living; and encouraged each other to pursue an education and abandon their father's life of physical labor. In late 1858, the two brothers moved to Pennsylvania at the invitation of Lester Frank's oldest brother, Cyrenus (nine years Lester Frank's senior), who was starting a business making wagon wheel hubs and needed workers. The brothers saw that as an opportunity to move closer to civilization and eventually attend college. The business failed, however, and Lester Frank, who still did not have the money to attend college, found a job teaching in a small country school; in the summer months he worked as a farm laborer. He finally saved enough money to attend college and enrolled in the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute in 1860. While he was at first self-conscious about his spotty formal education and self learning, he soon found that his knowledge compared favorably to his classmates', and he was rapidly promoted.

Civil War service and further studies: 1862–1873 Ward was a "fervent opponent of slavery" and enlisted in the Union Army to fight in the Civil War in August, 1862. He suffered three gunshot wounds in the Battle of Chancellorsville and was discharged from service on November 18, 1864 due to physical disability. After the war, Ward moved to Washington. In Washington, he worked at the Treasury Department from 1865 until 1872. Ward attended Columbian College, now the George Washington University, and graduating in 1869 with the degree of A.B. In 1871, after he received the degree of LL.B, he was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. However, he never practiced law. In 1873, he completed his A.M. degree.

Government work and research in Washington, DC

Ward concentrated on his work as a researcher for the federal government. At that time almost all of the basic research in such fields as geography, paleontology, archaeology and anthropology were concentrated in Washington, DC, and a job as a federal government scientist was a prestigious and influential position. From 1881 until 1888, Ward worked at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). He started out as an assistant geologist before being promoted in 1883. While he worked there, he became friends with John Wesley Powell, the second director of the USGS (1881–1894) and the director of the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution. In 1892, he was named Paleontologist for the USGS, a position he held until 1906. According to Edward Rafferty, Ward was part of a group of "Washington intellectuals" who "wanted to place social science within the structure of government and public life itself." Ward believed that centering research activity in government actions would benefit democratic progress, and evade the partisanship, corruption, and conflict of post-Civil War politics. Broadly, Ward's overarching project represented the "monumental exposition of the relation of the state to social progress." Working from the perspective that social research could be used to improve policy and the function of government, Ward was noted by his contemporaries for engaging in "the most advanced views yet taken by an avowed sociologist in the advocacy of a comprehensive program of social reform through the medium of legislation." During this time, Ward was very productive in writing and circulating works on his interests concerning nature and society. Ward published his Guide to the flora of Washington and vicinity (1881), followed shortly afterwards by the first volume of Dynamic Sociology: Or applied social science as based upon statistical sociology and the less complex sciences (1883), alongside his Sketch of Paleobotany (1885), Synopsis of the Flora of the Laramie Group (1885), and Types of the Laramie Flora (1887).

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lester Frank Ward

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lester Frank Ward claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lester Frank Ward before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lester Frank Ward ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lester Frank Ward

In research: Lester Frank Ward appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lester Frank Ward in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lester Frank Ward is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1841 births, 1913 deaths, 19th-century American writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lester Frank Ward outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Lester Frank Ward in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lester Frank Ward means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lester Frank Ward out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lester Frank Ward in simple terms?

Lester Frank Ward (June 18, 1841 – April 18, 1913) was an American botanist, paleontologist, and sociologist. The first president of the American Sociological Association, James Q.

Why does Lester Frank Ward matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lester Frank Ward?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lester Frank Ward.